Political group wants divorce for California

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Ask Bill Maze what's going wrong with California and the former Republican assemblyman in Sacramento will bring up a number of issues that you have probably heard before.

He will complain about irresponsible spending, bemoan high taxes and lash out at the bureaucratic burden imposed on businesses and citizens. His proposal on how to fix this situation, however, is quite unusual: Dividing the ailing state in two.

Maze leads the group Downsize California Now that is preparing a ballot initiative for a two-state solution. According to their plans, 13 counties on the coast, ranging from Los Angeles to Marin, just north of San Francisco, would be split off and be named Coastal California, West California or whatever they please. The remaining 45 counties, including Orange County, would become the "real" California.

"The problems are the issues that come out of the state legislature," Maze says. "Taxation, labor laws, environmental policies, you name it." Getting rid of the liberal coastal counties would "turn California again into the Golden State it once was,'' he says.

The movement was formed at the end of last year, when angry farmers in Central Valley rallied against Proposition 2, a ballot measure banning the tight confinement of farm animals. Originally called "Citizens for Saving California Farming Industries," the non-profit group has grown into a broader platform for those who cherish limited government. They hope to see the two-state initiative on the ballot by November 2010.

Convincing Californians to vote for the division of their state will be a difficult task, though. A poll by the Field Research Corporation earlier this year found that 82 percent of registered voters opposed the idea of splitting California into an eastern and western state. Also, such a plan would require approval by the U.S. Congress. Only Texas retains the right to divide itself into five states.

Maze, who heads a company in Visalia that manufactures water reclamation systems, still wants to put the issue to a vote as soon as possible. Thousands of people from all over the state are already supporting the movement, the former assemblyman claims, and the group is in the process of identifying regional leaders to drum up more interest. He is confident he can collect the 694,354 signatures required for putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot.

Since California became a state in 1850, there have been about 220 documented attempts to divide it, says Kevin Starr, a professor at USC and author of a multi-volume series on the history of California. "And none of them have gotten anywhere."

Most of the past proposals foresaw a division into a northern and southern state. In 1941, secessionists tried in vain to merge California's northernmost counties with parts of Southern Oregon to form a new state called Jefferson. The last serious bid dates back to the early 90s, when assemblyman Stan Statham gathered support to slice California in three pieces. His bill to hold a referendum on this issue passed the Assembly, but then died in the Senate

California is a stable state that has already passed way beyond division, Starr says.

"Talking about secession is just a way of thinking about current political problems,'' he says. "It's a way of protesting."

Rob Pierson oversees the petition drive at the headquarters of Downsize California Now in Fresno. After a successful secession, he explains, both states would hold a constitutional convention. The ideal California would feature a single-house legislature that would be in session only three months a year. Income taxes would be abolished and a balanced and an on-time budget would become mandatory.

The movement's interest in Orange County is in part strategic. "We want California to have a larger population than the new state", Pierson says. At the same time, he adds, the people here in general back the fiscal conservatism the group advocates.

However, the efforts of Downsize California Now have failed to produce a buzz in Orange County so far. According to Pierson, the number of supporters here ranges "in the dozens." The movement was planning a kickoff event in the county, but Pierson wouldn't reveal the date.

One of the supporters from Orange County is Alex Segovia, who first heard about the group a couple of months ago on the radio. He signed up on the movement's website and offered his service to their cause, passing out flyers and promoting the idea among his friends.

"It's a radical idea, but I think it's worth exploring", says the 40-year-old Mission Viejo resident, who works in the medical field. "Of course, dividing California up is not an ideal solution. But in the peoples' minds, the state is already divided – and it's broke."

What bothers him most about current politics in California is reckless spending, Segovia says. "And I don't trust in either one of the political parties to fix it." Quoting Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, he says that the state has simply become "ungovernable".

But even Segovia has some doubts that the bid to create two Californias will actually be successful.

"The chances do not look good right now", he says. "But it starts somewhere. It starts with debating and sharing ideas."

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